Charles Haresnape, managing director of residential Lending at Aldermore, said: “It’s amazing that lenders still believe they can provide a satisfactory service to intermediaries, without being willing to talk to them.”

He added: “All the feedback we receive at Aldermore confirms that brokers value highly the ability to talk to lenders about product criteria and clients’ applications. In most instances a quick call is all it takes to confirm if a case is likely to be acceptable or not; why do lenders find it so difficult to provide such an important service?”

From 3 May all pre-sale enquiries to NatWest Intermediary Solutions regarding mortgage applications will be handled by the lender’s sales support team.

NatWest said the free-to-use messaging service LiveTALK has been used for more than 20,000 conversations in the first quarter of this year and achieved a 90% satisfaction rating from brokers. The lender added that all brokers have a business development manager available for face-to-face contact and case updates remain on the phone.

Mark Bullard, head of sales, NatWest Intermediary Solutions, said: “We have been using LiveTALK as one of our core communication channels with brokers for more than three years and have witnessed a huge increase in its usage.”

Sponsored

Episode 1: First-time buyers : Powered by Partnership podcast from Newcastle for Intermediaries

Sponsored by Newcastle for Intermediaries

“We are very aware of the frustrations people experience when placed in a phone queue; with LiveTALK, brokers will be able to commence their conversation almost immediately and get the answers they want with minimum fuss.”